Afghans holding India’s flag? Truth revealed

A photo from yesterday’s Champions Trophy match between Afghanistan and England surfaced on the internet that created a buzz. The photo shows Afghanistan fans on stands holding a banner featuring national flags of India and Afghanistan. While this makes a lot of fans emotional, the reality of this photo seems different.

What does the banner say?

The banner shows two hands shaking, painted in each country’s national flag colours. One user sharing this photo on social media, wrote, “Afghanistan’s fans with the Indian flag & Afghanistan flag at Lahore during the match today.” The fans believed that in the nail-biting encounter against England on February 26, this is how Afghanistan fans showed support to their team.

While India’s history with England is not so heartwarming, India shares a great bond with Afghanistan in the front of cricket. The BCCI provides all kind of facilities, from coaching to stadiums to strengthen the cricket in Afghanistan. The fans, no wonder, connected with the banner and loved the way Afghan fans showed their love against England in Pakistan.

Fact check reveals the origin of photo

However, according to India Today Fact Check, the image is not from Pakistan. Afghan fans did not hold the banner in Pakistan. They held the banner in November 2023 in Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium. A reverse search of the image showed News18 report from June 25, 2024, featuring the same photo. The photo was used in a report of Afghanistan’s victory over Bangladesh during the 2024 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup hosted by West Indies. However, a watermark of the 2024 ODI World Cup hosted by India suggested something else.

Later, an X post from a journalist named Jafar Haand from November 7, 2023, showed the original photo from the match between Afghanistan and Australia in Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium. His post said: “Today’s crowd in the #AFGvAUS match in Mumbai.” Further the comparison between the pattern of the seats of the Wankhede Stadium during the 2023 World Cup match and seats visible in the photo making the buzz, verified the same.

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